[ILUG] Fwd: Software patents

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

> I still haven't managed to wrap my head around the "as such"

"Programs for computers will not be patentable as such"

is interpretted by the European Patent Office as

"Programs for computers will not be patentable as programs for computers"

This, in their eyes, doesn't exclude programs for computers from being
patentable as other things.  For example: processes, or methods.  So they
approve patent applications that lay claim to:

"A process, involving a limited resource computer and some software, where
 when the software is executed, the result is..."

or

"A method of displaying information on a screen such that..."


-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan,
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/                http://fsfe.org/Members/ciaran
                (My email address has changed from @member.fsf.org to @fsfe.org)